Thursday, September 11, 2008

9/11Mor(al) Ambiguity.

Flying on 9/11 was not as eventful as I thought. there were no signs anywhere to warn you that you would get shot down if you were up to no good. the security in customs were friendlier than I thought, and definitely friendlier than they were back in 2006 when i last visited the U.S.

what is it then about 9/11? just the memorial serivces? just the speeches? just the mouthpiece " we have not faltered, we have not failed" which are misleading and subjective at best?

I heard this joke from a good, patriotic, American friend on 9/11:

knock knock.who's there?9/11.9/11 who?I thought you said you'd never forget.

1 comment:

Up until a few years ago, you were not allowed to leave your seat on the last thirty minutes of any flight into DC.

Americans have pretty much processed the event and come to conclusions, most of which are unfavorable to Islam and Arab Muslim immigration. While most Americans are too polite to be rude to individual foreigners, there is a vague unfocused perception of Muslims as a hostile force who want to kill them and destroy America.

Washington has physically changed since the attacks. For the next few years after the attacks, Washington bunkered up. There are more security guards, more giant concrete flower pots that can stop a truck from crossing the sidewalk, more gates. The Washington Monument and Pentagon had extensive landscaping to stop truck bombs from getting close to the buildings. All federal buildings have to be 80 feet from the street where a vehicle bomb can detonate. A lot of offices are being shuffled around because of that rule.

Most of all, assumptions have changed. The second a hijacker makes his presence known on an airliner, everybody knows you are in a fight for your life, that you have to immediately attack him, them, to survive. When Americans see young Muslim men, they wonder if they are here to harm us.

8 Egyptian bloggers are in the US for a first-hand look at the election campaigns.They will be blogging on this site through the presidential inauguration as part of a project by the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research at The American University in Cairo.